23 – It’s About TimingHector’s instinct was to confront Simo immediately. Visions of swift, brutal justice danced through his mind, but he pushed them aside, carefully applying some logic to the situation. If Simo were working for the people who wanted Freddy dead, he was either an actual collection tech who’d been bought or blackmailed into the job, or he was a dangerous operative implanted with the team.Judging by the look Simo had been giving him, Hector was inclined to believe it was the latter. He wanted to know more before he called him out because if he were dangerous, then cornering him would only amplify the risk. No, it would be better to learn more, to spend some time assessing things, first.“Freddy,” he subvocalized into their shared comm channel.“Yeah?”“Don’t turn your back on those techs, especially Simo.”“You saw something?”Hector leaned back onto his foam pad, setting his helmet to the side. “Yeah. Caught him looking at me, and there was something behind his eyes that I didn’t like.”“Noted,” Freddy replied, and then Hector closed the comm link.How long until the other boosts process?//Their propagation is imminent, but you should eat.//Evie’s words hit home like a punch to the stomach. Hector was feeling lousy, and he realized he was starved for nutrients; the nanites he’d injected twice in the last twenty-four hours combined with the work his aura system was doing had taken a toll on his body’s resources. He climbed to his feet and walked over to the mules.Despite his efforts to go unnoticed, Paige stood from Mathews’s side and walked over. When he looked up from the ration crate, she said, “The commander won’t wake anytime soon. I gave her a heavy dose of trauma meds.”Hector pulled out two meal pouches and an electrolyte gel tube. “She gonna recover?”“Yeah. Unfortunately, her onboard nanites ate the bullet, (...)